Former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, one of the legions of Republican candidates for governor, says he wants to more than double the earnings of the Alaska Permanent Fund to pay higher dividends, avoid new taxes and solve the state’s financial woes.
Bronson and his running mate, Fairbanksan Josh Church, are newcomers to state politics, but that doesn’t excuse their cavalier manner. They seem to be unaware that injecting politics into Permanent Fund investments is a terrible idea.
Read MoreSen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich the Third will not condemn Donald Trump’s plan for massive war crimes.
Read MoreWhat we haven’t heard from Sullivan, a charter member of the Senate DOGE Caucus, is what taxes he supports to pay for the largest military budget in U.S. history, which features an increase of more than 40 percent. Trump introduced the proposal Friday.
The Trump plan endorsed by Sullivan would add $7 trillion to the national debt by 2036, according to this analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Read MoreSix members of the finance committee earned honors as PFD Posturers this week by claiming the state can afford to spend $2.4 billion on dividends and burn through half of the Constitutional Budget Reserve, which would make it impossible to deal with future state emergencies without going into the Permanent Fund.
Read MoreDonald Trump told Republicans they should remain in Washington, D.C. this week to pass the so-called SAVE act, which is about saving himself. Do it for Jesus, Trump said.
Read MoreAll the expectations for the Permanent Fund were based on conditions that prevailed before the 1979 Iranian revolution when Ayatollah Khomeini became the first supreme leader. Oil prices rose by 250 percent from 1978-1980, changing every calculation about Alaska’s finances and the vision for the Permanent Fund.
Read More“Now the Permanent Fund is more critical than ever to the economy and people of Alaska. Alaska cannot afford any mistakes,” said former Rep. Terry Gardiner, one of the few founders of the Alaska Permanent Fund still alive 50 years after its creation.
Read MoreTemporary Attorney General Stephen Cox has inserted himself into the national debate over birthright citizenship, saying that babies born to people in the U.S. illegally are damaging Alaska.
Read MoreThe biggest argument 50 years ago about creating the Permanent Fund concerned a plan by House Republicans to ban the fund from investing in the stock market.
The stock market decline in 1973-74 of nearly 50 percent, triggered in part by the OPEC oil embargo, was the worst since the Great Depression. The GOP wanted to ban any investment without a guaranteed return. The idea would have cost tens of billions over time.
Read MoreThe most important issue regarding John W. Wood’s fitness to evaluate judge candidates is his 1993 conviction in federal court for failing to file his federal taxes in 1987. The Legislature should reject his appointment to the Alaska Judicial Council.
Read More
